attempted to present of the progress of opinion among Liberal members of
the Parliament of 1880.

1. Our experience of the Coercion Bills of 1881 and 1882 disclosed the
enormous mischief which such measures do in alienating the minds of
Irishmen, and the difficulty of enlisting Irish sentiment on behalf of
the law. The results of the Act of 1881 taught us that the repression of
open agitation means the growth of far more dangerous conspiracy; those
of the Act of 1882 proved that even under an administration like Lord
Spencer's repression works no change for the better in the habits and
ideas of the people.

2. The conduct of the House of Lords in 1880 and 1881, and the malign
influence which its existence exerted whenever remedial legislation for
Ireland came in question, convinced us that full and complete justice
will never be done to Ireland by the British Parliament while the Upper
House (as at present constituted) remains a part of that Parliament.

3. The break-down of the procedure of the House of Commons, and the
failure of the efforts to amend it, proved that Parliament cannot work
so long as a considerable section of its members seek to impede its
working. To enable it to do its duty by England and Scotland, it was
evidently necessary, either to make the Irish members as loyal to
Parliament as English and Scotch members usually are, or else to exclude
them.

4. The discussions of Irish Bills in the House of Commons made us
realize how little English members knew about Ireland; how utterly
different were their competence for, and their attitude towards, Irish
questions and English questions. We perceived that we were legislating